It’s the thought that counts at Cowes RNLI lifeboat station, when it comes to 11-year-old Bianca Flanders and her 6-year-old sister Clarissa.
After paying a visit to the station with their mother during Cowes Week the girls went away determined to raise money for the charity. At their home in Gordon Road, Cowes – with the help of a neighbour – they set about making homemade lemonade on a hot day and selling it by the glass from a pavement stall to passers-by.
The 2 girls, with a business acumen that belied their years, decided the RNLI should receive 10% of the takings. So from the £13 of gross takings they duly turned up at the station to hand over £1.30.
So touched was the station’s visits officer Penny Maclean that the girls and their mother were invited to a training night to receive a ‘thank you’ certificate and a cuddle from the RNLI’s mascot Stormy Stan.
Bianca’s mother Ren said she was completely unaware of the initiative:
“I work nights as a senior care worker so I was asleep at the time”.
After receiving a rousing clap from the station volunteers the girls stayed to watch the lifeboat being launched for a training exercise.
Penny said:
“The amount of money is irrelevant in this case.
“This is an example of what young people on this Island will do for a good cause. Putting together a business model and then following it through with some hard work”.
Bianca said she would now be thinking of other ways of helping the RNLI.
